WIMBLEDON

July 5, 2003

Roger Federer

MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to have a 10-minute interview. We'll give the English press perhaps five minutes, then the others in the other languages, the second five minutes. So if you could bear with us on that. We'll start with English.

ROGER FEDERER: It will be very tough, you know. I don't think I played a perfect game, you know, but it was definitely a very good match. You know, concentration level was high all the time, you know, and I could maintain that on my own service games. I gave myself chances on the return game. So, you know, it will be difficult to play the same way. I'll just have to try to have the same approach and, you know, hope that I can play a good match.

ROGER FEDERER: It makes you feel good, like on a day today where you have a day off and you can just go out and hit some balls. It's normal that you feel good out there, you know, because you know you played well here and you played a good match the day before. But all this, you know, doesn't really matter right now. Everything's like forgotten. All you need to take is the confidence you got. I got this the last month on grass, because I've been really playing great tennis. I haven't lost a match. And if I could finish off the grass court season by not losing a match, that would be just fantastic.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, it does. Already when I played him in Hamburg, you know - me anyway - I'm thinking a little bit already about that upcoming match in Davis Cup, you know. So that was a disappointment for me to lose against him on clay in Hamburg, you know. I really tried to get it back, then to also feel better when I play him in Davis Cup.

ROGER FEDERER: No, I don't feel pressure. I was very pleased what I saw about the America's Cup, you know. And all the other sports in Switzerland also have been doing good, you know. I'm just happy to carry the Swiss flag on the men's side of the tennis, you know. So I don't feel any pressure from that side.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, definitely if I win, that's for sure the case. Already now I feel much better, you know. Just relieved in a way, you know, that I could perform in Grand Slams because that was really the only part of my career missing, the Grand Slam results. So already now it's already a great two weeks, you know, but I could finish it off in great style tomorrow. So I give it all and hopefully I can do it.

ROGER FEDERER: Yep.

ROGER FEDERER: I'll play it, yeah. For sure. I'm not thinking too much about it, but I'm happy to go there because it's a -- I'm back in Switzerland. I like to be there. They treat me really nice up there. The people are nice at the tournament. But right now, I'm too focused on this tournament, so...

ROGER FEDERER: Could be. Hope so.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, as I said yesterday in the press conference, it's a different game tomorrow, totally. Because he's gonna follow his serve and he's got to -- I would say a flatter serve. Andy's ball bounces higher. So maybe you cannot take a step against Andy -- against Mark, you've got to stay maybe closer to the baseline. I still have to figure that out. It's gonna be different returning also for me. Probably won't be enough to chip it like I did against Andy. I mean, I just have to adjust and hopefully I'll get chances on the second shot to pass him.

ROGER FEDERER: Somehow, you know -- I wouldn't say "disappointed," but you always dream about being in the finals. Then you're in the final, and you're almost a little bit disappointed, you know, because you think it's actually so great, you know - and it is. I really enjoy it, being in the final, having the opportunity. But somehow, as a player, you live through these two weeks. I am already 5 in the world. So it's -- of course it's a surprise, in a way. But in one way, also not, because I'm ranked so high. If I would be -- I don't know, it would be totally different I would be -- come through qualifying or, you know, nobody expected it. But myself, I have high expectations; people have it. So for that reason, it's gonna be, I mean, similar match to -- or similar approach to what I've had so far, you know. And the only thing is, is that there is no after, you know, there's just one match now and, you know, I really hope I can take the chance.

ROGER FEDERER: Falling asleep was not so easy. Just pictures going through my head, you know. But then once I was asleep, I think it was okay, so...